Newest College Application Essays

I could hear the rhythmic pitter patter of rain on the window pane as I drifted in and out of consciousness. I stared intently at my notes, desperately trying to absorb the convoluted lines of graphite lead on my paper. After concentrating for an...

Two years ago at summer camp, I hiked the better part of the Northville-Lake Placid Trail.

No one from camp had gone on this trip since some time in the seventies, so we had a certain air of bravado. We were a group of 14 and 15 year olds...

How can a high school student serve a community greater than not only feeding the masses, but providing it with the softest, yet most absorbent toilet paper as well? Pshh, saving third world countries from natural disasters can wait, especially...

I shop at the local thrift store often. I know its six sections of racks and shelves as if they were in my own closet. I don’t shop there for financial reasons, nor do I shop there for trendy fashion finds. I shop there for the stories the...

I thought I had it all figured out when I began high school. My future, I was convinced, was in psychology—a field that has always fascinated me and seemed to be a promising career choice. Before specializing in psychology in college, I planned to...

I squinted when the bright light pierced my eyes as I talked to the stony-faced manager of the Siberian airline. I was translating as quickly and accurately as I could, while both parties’ faces became steadily redder and their voices louder. The...

Getting up early simply hurts. Getting up early in the summer hurts even worse, and getting up early in the summer to do work is close to torture. This past summer I had to do just this. Every morning, except for Sundays when I was lucky enough to...

As a result of my father’s business, my family moved to France in May of 1995. From France, we moved to Singapore, back to France, to Spain in 2001, and finally to our current location on a farm in rural Upstate New York in late 2002. Over the...

Acceptance is a rare thing in today’s society. Growing up I have always been taught not only tolerance but also acceptance. One of the biggest things that sets me apart from many of the other students on the CU-Boulder campus is that my mother is...

I’m a starting linebacker, but my mother is way tougher than I am. She runs the legislative, executive and judicial branches of discipline in our house, takes care of all of our taxes, and single-handedly manages my father’s law firm. She also...

In my naïve middle schools days, I did not think highly of English class. My love was math, with its logical equations, universal numbers, and challenging problems. English was my second language, something that surrounded and engulfed me the...

Wow, have I really been away for only 48 hours? No, that's simply not possible; you must have been abducted by aliens and traveled near the speed of light to have lost such sense of the time, puppy dear! I've doubled my chips at Casino night, read...

“Samantha Nicole!” my mother began. The deliberate usage of my middle name indicated she was preparing to reprimand me. I instantly knew I had been caught peering underneath my neon pink Barbie bandage. As do most young children, I chose to...

When my dad first began working in Mexico, I nonchalantly changed my schedule to include seventh grade “Intro to Spanish.” Naturally, I didn’t think twice about what would later prove a crucial decision—few seventh graders realize how such simple...

When I found out I had been cast as Emile de Becque in the musical South Pacific, I was excited but confused, and even a little scared. Why had I been picked as the lead, even though I was a sophomore with no experience singing in the operatic...

"You're off to Great Places!

Today is your day!

Your mountain is waiting.

So...get on your way!"

Somewhere in a far off town in Australia, these words penetrated the deafening silence that pervaded the room in which I stood, deeply immersed in...

"There's something beautiful at night. There's something beautiful about a billion stars held steady by God who knows what He is doing. They hang there, the stars, like notes on a page of music, free-form verse, silent mysteries swirling in the...

Russia had never been bad to me. My eleven years there made for a joyful, carefree childhood. I never thought of my life as wanting despite living on my grandma’s miserly pension for three years. During those last three years of my life in Russia,...

"Those who do not know their opponents’ arguments do not completely understand their own.” My mother had emailed me the quote, saying it reminded her of me. As I read the quote, I saw how it reflected my life. In all my schooling, all my...

I was three years old when my parents chose to emigrate from China to Canada in order for my father to pursue his medical career. It was a difficult journey for my parents because of cultural and language differences and for me, as a small child,...

Music has been an especially important activity for me. Although I have chosen to be involved in a variety of activities, the one that has been most rewarding for me is performing in a band. In junior high school, I organized a band that has since...

Growing up in a family of doctors, I have always been fascinated by the medical field. This fascination has prompted me to involve myself in many science related areas, from taking numerous science classes to participating in the many scientific...

I once delightedly boasted of Dubai’s cohesive society – a medley of well-educated British businessmen, Emiratis adapting their lifestyles to the ever-changing social landscape, Southeast Asian workers fuelling the massive demand for cheap labor,...

Shouting, tantrums, chiding, infuriation; I scuttled back into my room and slammed the door to defy my parents exhortations and advice. What followed was the sulking and tears, complete with the customary introspection. I fashioned the...